Grieving

Paul E. Norton Dec. 24 1918 - Nov. 16 2010

My grandpa passed away this week. I am grateful that I had the chance to see him last July in Omaha before I left for Africa. Thanks to the blessing of Skype I was able to see him and tell him I love him once more, just hours before he was gone. He is not "gone" though, and this I believe with all my heart. He is in heaven at the best family reunion ever, face to face with his Redeemer, at home with his heavenly Father. I do not grieve FOR him, but our loss. I love my grandpa and will miss him very much.

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

I have now missed both of my grandfathers funerals. My grandpa Leeder passed away 13 years ago when I was on a church trip in Washington DC. It is hard not to be with family at this time, partaking in the reminiscing, the crying, the laughing and the celebrating. Last January my great Aunt Bernice went to heaven and I was blessed to be with family as we celebrated her life, and I know the healing it brings. It's much different trying to find that healing so far away, without the family that knew my grandpa.

Actually, 4 families at our school lost someone in their family in the period of one week. The Robinson's lost their grandfather, Micah lost her aunt to a long fight with an unknown cancer, the Miller's lost their grandma/great-grandma, and I lost my grandpa. While we have all agreed that this has been a hard horrible week, it has been good to have each other, to have people who understand this kind of pain and be so far away.

Thank you for all the love and encouragement so far.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. "

2 Corinthians 1:3,4